Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Wednesday said the state government planned to generate up to 3,000MW of power within seven years.

Ambode disclosed this in Alausa at the presentation of the Lagos State Embedded Power Technical Committee report, a public and private sector initiative.

A member of the committee, Mr. Charles Mommoh, presented the report to the governor.

He said, “The overall objective of our power intervention programme is to ensure energy security for Lagos State.”

The governor said that the intervention was to ensure generation of power through accelerated deployment of various embedded power plants in strategic locations in the state within three to seven years.

He said, “It is planned that 350MW of this incremental power will be delivered by first quarter of 2018, additional 850MW by fourth quarter of 2018 and the balance of 1,800MW not later than third quarter of 2022.

“The state government will support the Power Purchase Agreements that will be signed between the distribution companies and the embedded power providers, to enhance bankability of the projects.

“We will distribute the embedded power, off-grid, within Lagos state through the network of Eko and Ikeja distribution companies.“We will support them in upgrading their distribution infrastructure and installation of smart prepaid meters in the areas where embedded power is deployed.”

He said that other areas of collaboration would include support for collection, appropriate legislation and enforcement of power theft laws.The governor, who identified transmission as the problem of power in the country, noted that if power was supplied in Lagos, it would positively affect the country as a whole.

Ambode said that while the Federal Government continued to resolve power crisis, it had become clear that the problems in the energy sector could no longer be left to the federal government alone.

He said, “The sustainable solution going forward is one that pools together the commitment and resources of all stakeholders in the power value chain.’’

The state’s Commissioner for Energy and Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, told journalists, shortly after the presentation that the recommendations of the committee was in five major areas.

He said that there would be intervention in the entire power value chain starting with generation.

Oluwo said the state would be investing to upgrade the distribution infrastructure of the distribution companies and help them to meter the entire areas where the embedded powers would be deployed.

He said that the state would also set up an enforcement unit to tackle those by-passing meters and vandals and ensure that all meters were pre-paid.

Oluwo said that the initiative was a major intervention by the government to ensure guaranteed power.

Presenting the report, a member of the committee and the Chairman, Eko Distribution Company, Mr. Charles Momoh, commended the state government for the initiative.